Supreme Court orders convicted murder released or retried

The State Supreme Court has ordered a prison inmate once facing execution to be set free unless the state wants to hold a new murder trial. Inmate Reginald Griffin originally had been sentenced to death for stabbing another inmate to death at the Moberly prison in 1983. He was sentenced to life in prison when a new trial was held.

The Supreme Court has ruled 4-3 that the prosecutor withheld evidence that could have shown his innocence.

The Court says the state failed to disclose evidence that prison guards caught another inmate with a weapon near the murder scene. The court cites five substantial developments since Griffin’s trial that it says require his release unless the prosecutor decides within 60 days to re-try him.